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2O2 4 – 2O2 5 GU I D E to Y E L LOW S P R I NG S 29 with GMAD, McGruder said he was also invited to join Abyssinian Baptist Church, a historic Black Baptist church in Harlem. Joining Abyssin - ian offered another anchor to the Harlem community, but also provided McGruder an opportunity to do community development work. “They had a group of volunteers that was looking at starting a community develop - ment corporation and I was working at a foundation that funded them,” McGruder said. “Looking back, I realize I got anchored through Abysinnian and GMAD, so I stayed in New York.” Along with his degrees in business and finance, McGruder said he had an ongoing interest in history and a love for teaching. “When I lived in Boston [while attending Harvard], I was involved in the Drum and Bugle Corps,” McGruder said. “After moving to Cleveland [post-undergraduate], I helped teach high school and junior high school aged kids.” As McGruder settled into life in New York, he was offered the opportunity to adjunct, teaching a class called “Black Economic Development from 1860–present.” “I taught that for probably two years or so, in the eve- nings after work, and I really enjoyed it,” McGruder said. “I started thinking about maybe I want to do this full time.” After applying to several area schools, McGruder was accepted to The City Univer- sity of New York. “I was in my 40s, but it was perfect for me because there were a lot of other people who were my age, so I wasn’t an anomaly,” McGruder said. “I took, what I call, a practi - cal approach to academic studies.” Focusing his research on Harlem, McGruder said he enjoyed the culture of the uni- versity as it avoided academic jargon and focused on making academic materials accessible for all audiences, a quality that reflected McGruder’s own approach to history, research and teaching. After completing his doc - toral degree, McGruder began searching for tenure track jobs, starting with schools in New York, but eventu- ally broadening his search to Washington D.C. and Ohio. “Antioch was the position that came through,” McGruder said. “That’s when I started thinking, ‘Do I really want to live there?’” Reflecting on his experi - ences in Cleveland and New York, McGruder said he wanted to live somewhere with links to Black history and culture. “Moving to Yellow Springs, I knew I needed to be anchored to some things here,” McGruder said. He researched Black orga - nizations in Yellow Springs and found the AME Baptist Church and The 365 Project. “I thought ‘Oh, this is interesting,’ because I never lived in a small town and had not lived in a primarily white community and wasn’t sure that that’s something I wanted to do.” McGruder accepted the position at Antioch College in 2012, joining a small faculty and large group of community members and alumni trying to re-launch the college. “I didn’t find the Antioch situation daunting,” McGruder said. “I knew it wouldn’t be boring, and, if anything, I found it exciting.” As a faculty member of a small college, McGruder has held several roles at Antioch, including vice president of academic affairs. He said that Import House 124 Dayton St. | 937-767-9499 M.–Sa.,10 a.m.–7 p.m.; Su., 12–5 p.m. Offering Ohio’s best selection of hand blown glass pipes. s GI FTS • CLOTH ING • INCENSE • JEWELRY • PR INTS POSTERS